Heartworm
by TamaraneanOnMars
Summary: She realized that this was like her own little heartworm, even though there was no relationship that she couldn't get out of her head, only a childhood crush, like old embers that still threaten to start a fire inside her. Three pieces for 30 Days of Writing that kind of fit together. Oneshot. Spitfire. Half songfic. Song is 'I won't give up' by Jason Mraz.


**So these are three things written for the 30 Days of Writing. I just really wanted to post them, and I'm posting most of them as separate oneshots, but I thought that I shouldn't do that for these since they kinda fit together.**

**They are so OOC in these though oh my God. :l**

**Title: Heartworm**

**Characters/Pairings: Wally, Artemis, Spitfire**

**Summary: But, she reluctantly realised as she sat on her bed beside her Kid Flash collection, that this was like her own little heartworm, even though there was no relationship that she couldn't get out of her head, only a childhood crush, like old embers that still threaten to start a fire inside her. Three pieces for 30 Days of Writing that kind of fit together. Oneshot. Spitfire. Half songfic. Song is 'I won't give up.' By Jason Mraz.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice, or any of it's characters.**

* * *

Beginning

The beginning, if you'd like, of it all had been severely disappointing.

She stood and stood confidently, hiding the fact that she was screaming with happiness on the inside. She looked around 'The Cave' (that's what she had heard the black haired boy – Superboy – call it). Then she looked at the clean environment, felt the happy, relaxed atmosphere and smiled to herself. It was so... different than what she was used to. She was used to dark, dingy warehouses and the smell of sweat and – when her dad had been in a bad mood, which was more times than she'd like to count – blood, usually her own.

She had been so excited, she was joining a team! Not just a team, but a hero team. A hero team! She had been raised as a murderer, a tool, an assassin. She had been taught how to kill, how to attack without mercy, which organs were vital and which to shoot at. Now, she would be able to avoid that road, and live a clean, respectable life...if no one found out about her heritage, of course. "The Justice League is your enemy. All heroes are your enemy. All that stand in your way are your enemy. You will live and die with the Shadows." Her father had said. She internally scoffed.

'_We'll see about that,_' She thought smugly.

She scanned the room once again, looking for someone. She frowned slightly, just enough so that no one would notice (she didn't want them thinking she wasn't grateful for them letting her on the team), when she didn't see who she wanted to. You see, there had been a beacon of hope she had held on to through a small part of her childhood, something that told her that she could do better, that she could choose her own path. It had started when she was thirteen, and her Mum was still in prison. Her Dad wasn't in – he had told her that he had business to attend to. She didn't press any farther, she was old enough to know what that would lead to. She did not want her dad to have one of his 'moods'.

Thirteen year old Artemis sat in front of a small TV, hugging her knees and wondering – why her? Why was she chosen to live this horrible life? She hadn't done anything wrong, tried to reason with her father, but that would only make it worse. And then her mother had been sent to prison, making it worse, back when she was nine. A silent tear trickled down her cheek and she let out a shuddery sigh, changing the channel again. Her Mum was gone. Jade, her sister, who was supposed to support her and make things better, had ran away. She was left with _him_, her poor excuse for a father. She would tolerate it, of course. She had been tolerating it her whole life. But sometimes she just had to let it out, let the tears fall and the feelings out.

"Oh, who is this?" A reporter cooed on the TV in a patronizing voice. Artemis turned her attention to the report which she had switched to; it seemed that a cat had been stuck up a tree. '_How cliché._' Artemis thought. It was a puny cat with barely any ginger fur and an annoying whine – rather ugly thing, in her opinion. It looked like a deformed rat. But, despite it's repulsive appearance, the small creature had been saved in a flash – literally. A flash of red and yellow, a gust of wind that blew the reporter's ginger ponytail upwards and there appeared a boy about Artemis's age wearing a skin tight, yellow and red costume with a Flash symbol on his chest, a yellow mask with red goggles, fiery red hair and a howling kitten in his arms.

He had been smirking, but that fell at the reporter's tone. He obviously didn't appreciate being treated like a child, and soon tried to make himself sound more grown up by making his voice proud and standing in what he must have thought as a dignified position. "I'm Kid Flash, the Flash's new sidekick!" He grinned, pleased with himself and the reporter smiled warmly down at him, almost like she knew him personally, which was ridiculous. No one had even heard of this Flash Boy before.

"Wow, you're fast! What are you, a super hero?" She said jokingly, noticing his distaste at how he was being treated and playing along with his attempt at being bigger than he actually was. The boy nodded grandly, as if he had been given the best praise possible.

"Mm-hm!"

"When did you pop up, then?" The reporter asked, grinning. She was obviously loving this, amused by the new hero's confidence. She was leaning over slightly, making sure that the microphone was close enough to his face. It made him look a bit smaller. "I've never seen you before."

He nodded. "I'm new. I chose to be a hero, you know. I've wanted to be for so long." He grinned, jumping up and down a bit like he couldn't contain himself. He was quite excited – his Aunt had been waiting for this and he had prepared for the questions. Okay, he was actually improvising, but he had forgotten what he was going to say. You see, since this was his first time on TV, he had no idea how to do it, so they had told him to prepare his answers. He had been none too pleased about this, and had quickly forgotten about it in favour of much more important things – like his knew gaming console. "No one said I could, but I did." It was true – his Uncle Barry had refused to him being his sidekick when Wally had first asked. He hadn't let himself be discouraged, he had just worked harder. He was beaming by now, face glowing like the sun.

Artemis found herself smiling. This boy – he was so happy, so carefree. In the kill-or-be-killed culture that she was used too, she couldn't afford to be like that. She couldn't help but find him cute, too, with his red hair like fire, glowing, emerald green eyes and goofy grin. And what he had said...'_No one said I could, but I did._' He had chosen his own path, had held on to his dream, worked on it, done whatever it had taken to make it happen. He didn't let anyone stop him or prevent him from reaching his goal. Artemis sighed and let her head fall into her hands. She wished that she could be like him, this Kid Flash. He just seemed to..._confident_ in himself. She could try to be like him, of course. But, that would probably end badly, as it would include disobeying her Dad.

"You sound brave." The reporter grinned, her eyes sparkling with warmth. "Isn't it scary, being a hero, saving lives?" She shoved the microphone in his face again, but he didn't seem to notice, grinning like he was the king of the world.

"Nope!" He practically shouted in the reporter's ear (She was leaning down slightly to be closer to his level), but she didn't mind. "I'm not afraid of anything! Why should I be afraid?" Artemis blinked.

'_Why should I be afraid?_'

The reporter smiled and ruffled his hair, simply chuckling at his feeble protests. She turned to the camera again, realizing that she was out of time. "Well, it seems that I have been the first the meet our new hero, Kid Flash. Back to the studio, with the weather. This has been Iris West Allen." She smiled as the screen went to a rather creepy smiling lady standing in front of a screen showing a map of the local area and making unnecessary hand gestures as she thanked Iris and described the weather for the next few days.

Artemis squeezed her eyes shut, quickly pressing the button on the remote to turn off the TV. Her mind was reeling. Thoughts sprung up in her head, but she only caught one or two... No, but that was ridiculous. She couldn't do that. Why would she do that? The Shadows would keep her alive, give her a good life where she could do as she pleased. Why defy that? Uninvited, a voice comments in her head; '_Well, why not?_' Artemis snapped her eyes open, and the voice continued. '_The heroes are kind. They would take better care of you than the Shadows would. They don't kill, and if you did something wrong, they wouldn't dispose of you, they would forgive you. You would be able to also live more normally, not being chased by the law. It would be fantastic, right?_'

Artemis almost listened to that voice, because, really, it had to be better than _this_. This training upon training, the cruel punishments, the dingy conditions. But then she came to her senses. Her father would never allow it. His daughter, a _hero_? Unthinkable. And then she heard the familiar sound of the door closing with a _bang_, the heavy footsteps and her dad calling for her and all she thought before rushing to him was '_Oh, well. It was a bad idea anyway._'

Later, after her daily training, she saw a newspaper sitting in the bin. Her Dad had bought it to see if anything worth his interest was happening and had been severely disappointed – celebrity gossip had never interested him, and really, it was obvious why. But when Artemis glanced at the front page as it lay, slightly crumpled, in the bin, something caught her eye. In the corner of the page, there was a small article with the title 'Flash finds his new protégée' ('_Whoever came up with that title must be a genius,_' Artemis had thought sarcastically). There was a picture of Kid Flash, grinning at the camera, obviously loving all the attention.

Artemis hesitated. She looked at bit closer at the photo. As if you were looking at him in person, you could see the happiness and content in his eyes. Artemis's face softened and she smiled. She just gazed at the photo for a moment, taking things in that she missed when watching that report on TV; the small wisps of hair that falls onto his forehead; the freckles dusted on his cheeks; the dimples that form when he smiles; the way that his sleeve is slightly too long and covers part of his hands. She shook her head and told herself to move on, but later she found that she had cut out that article and hand carefully laid it in a box under her bed.

The evening after her first day on her new team, Artemis sat cross-legged on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She thought of the smiling, happy, kind, considerate, good Kid Flash she had grown up watching on TV and reading about in the papers. Then she thought about the Kid Flash, Wally, from today, and suddenly felt like crying. That boy that had given her hope through the hardest times, that boy that always looked on the bright side, always wanted to help people, already hated her. She tried to tell herself that she didn't care. She knew what he was really like now: flirtatious, annoying, smug.

The opposite of what she had hoped for.

She reached down under her bed and slipped out an old, white box. It was coated in a thick layer of dust, had more than it's fair share of tea stains and was worn at the edges, all clear signs of how long Artemis had had it. Her hand hovered over the lid. She was unsure if she really wanted to look inside or not, now she knew him. Thinking that nothing too bad could happen, she slipped of the lid and studied the contents. With a tentative hand, she reached in and lifted out some paper.

Over the years, the amount of newspaper articles collected in this old, cardboard box had increased, and increased, and increased. Now, it was full of paper of all sizes, each having a different story of Kid Flash saving people, imprisoning villains, stopping fires all over the city. They would always mention how eager to help he was, and Artemis found herself smiling again as she flicked through them. Then, she reached an interview, where they had been asking Wally on his opinions on villains. She began to read it, slightly curious on what he had to say (She would never tell you that she was thinking of her family).

'_Kid Flash, how many villains have you stopped so far in your super hero career?_'

'_Well, I've stopped their plans loads, but the jerks keep breaking out of prison,_' (Artemis – and the reporter, as it states in the article - smirked at that one.)

'_Well, then, do you think that they should have a harsher, more permanent punishment, like some do? Do you want them to be isolated? Or do you want them to have a second chance?_'

'_The latter, obviously. Everyone deserves a chance._'

Artemis shoved that to the bottom of the pile and thrust the box onto the bed next to her as quickly as she could. She let her head fall into her hands and sighed, feeling a pang of regret, even though she had no reason to regret. He was the complete jerk. But, she reluctantly realised as she sat on her bed beside her Kid Flash collection, that this was like her own little heartworm, even though there was no relationship that she couldn't get out of her head, only a childhood crush, like old embers that still threaten to start a fire inside her.

Without thinking, Artemis grabbed the box and stalked over to the kitchen, where she quickly poured it's contents into the bin. She shoved the box in there too, for good measure. At that moment, getting rid of every trace of her obsession with her new team mate was top priority.

(The next day when she saw him at the cave, and she saw that grin so similar to when he was thirteen, she wanted to bring that wad of paper back and keep it safe, and suddenly felt her cheeks grow warm, as if that fire inside her was already starting.)

Accusation

_'She's my new protégée.'_

_'What happened to your old one?'_

_'We have no quota on archers'_

_'If we did, you know who we'd pick.'_

_'I don't need attitude from the newbie that drove Red Arrow off the team.'_

Artemis wanted to make one thing clear – these things that Wally West had said about her did not hurt her at all. After he said things like this, she didn't want to apologize, even though she had nothing to apologize for. She definitely didn't want to tell him about how much she had admired him, or how much this new team meant to her, or how he had helped her through her brutal childhood without knowing it.

She did not feel a mixture of dread that he would look at her like she didn't belong and hope that he would spontaneously forgive her and maybe, just maybe, smile in her direction when she heard the computer announce '_Kid Flash: B03_', because that would be stupid. She didn't care, right? Right. She had no reason to care, it was only Wally, Kid Flash, her childhood idol, that hated her. No big.

She didn't lie awake one night, desperately trying to think of anything that could redeem her in his eyes. The rest of the team were her friends, and never accused her of anything, so why should she care about Wally's opinion? He was just a guy, and Artemis definitely was not one of those girls to willingly dig up their own grave and die over a guy. She was the type to look back on the experience and wonder what she saw in the idiot. And Artemis definitely thought that he was an idiot. Yup. No question.

So why did her heart leap at his smile, even if it was directed at someone else completely?

Why did she feel a pang of sadness when he flirted with M'gann?

Why did she regret throwing away those newspaper clippings?

'_Red Arrow's replacement._'

Now that she had stopped kidding herself, stopped hoping that he would some day see her as a friend, and maybe more, stopped believing that she would someday be special, she guessed that's all she'd ever be in his eyes.

Restless

_**10:47 January 10th**_

_**Central City**_

Wally tossed and turned, shutting his eyes once again and moaning. He covered himself with his Flash quilt and lay face down on his Flash pillow, on his bright red sheet (sometimes he wonders if he took the whole Flash thing too far, then he comes to his senses). He felt tired – no, exhausted, hungry and irritated. He opened his eyes again and frowned to himself angrily. He couldn't sleep. This happened most nights, so if it were only that, Wally wouldn't mind. But his thoughts were full of her.

_'When I look into your eyes, it's like watching the night sky,'_

He recalled earlier, on the Bio ship, when he had told her the advise that she had ignored in a desperate attempt to impress them – or, so he had thought at the time - and he had looked in those grey pools that were her eyes. He had almost lost himself in them, watching the sky at night with it's twinkling stars and it was just so _beautiful_.

_'Or a beautiful sunrise, there's so much they hold.'_

But then he thought of when he had seen her on the beach early one morning, and had sat next to her. No words had been shared, no insults or glares. They just sat and watched the sun rise, because they didn't have a thing to talk about. He knew then. He knew why she had done it, why she lied about her family, and he was okay with it. He had looked into her eyes at one point, and in the young morning light, they had seemed blue with a bit of orange reflected from the sky.

_'And just like them old stars, I see that you've come so far,'_

After Wally had found out, he had wanted to just sweep her up in a tight embrace, to say sorry for being such an idiot. She had been through so much, having a ruthless assassin as a father, having her mother sent to prison when she was _nine years old_, her sister abandoning her, and he had made it worse by acting like a complete jerk. He still couldn't believe that she had forgiven him – he almost felt he didn't deserve it.

_'To be right where you are, how old is your soul?'_

She hadn't even had a childhood, not a proper one. She hadn't gone to the park with her friends, or woken up her parents when she had a nightmare, or waited for the Easter Bunny to bring her chocolate, like he had. She went to training sessions with her dad, woke up in the middle of the night after a nightmare and cried about it alone and waited for when her father went out on a mission, so that she could be herself without punishment. She had to grow up at the ripe old age of, what, five? She never learnt the satisfaction of learning to ride a bike, or the feeling of blowing out the candles on your birthday with your cheering family crowded round you.

_'And when your needing your space, to do some navigating,'_

A few days after New Years Eve, Wally didn't see Artemis at all, but that was okay. He knew how things were for her, and that she was working things out. Hell, he was confused himself. When had she gone from Artemis Crock, Red Arrow's replacement, annoying, bossy and demanding to Artemis Crock, beautiful, funny, smart and a Hell of a good kisser? He didn't know, and he didn't really think it mattered any more.

_**12:34 January 11th**_

_**Mount Justice**_

_'I'll be here patiently waiting, to see what you find.'_

Wally sat in front of the TV the next day, munching on a bag of mild Doritos. He was drowsy, since his thoughts had kept him awake for the most of last night. He hadn't intended on coming to Mount Justice originally, but he had come here anyway, holding on to the hope that Artemis had come to a decision. He certainly had.

You see, last night, he had thought about how it had felt holding her her on New Year's Eve, the happiness and slight mischief in her eyes, how it had just felt_ right_. How afterwards when he had woken up and he had wanted to see her next to him. How he couldn't mask his happiness when he saw her enter the Cave and he saw her for the first time since they were sent out of the Watch Tower and were made to go home, and how disappointed he had felt when she had avoided his gaze awkwardly and walked past him. He liked to think that last night he properly came to his senses.

Because this feeling he got when he saw her, it wasn't only just appearing. He had been squashing it, ignoring it, ever since the mission with Doctor Fate. Kent Nelson had seen it, had even started to tell him ('Find your own little spitfire, one that won't let you get away with nothing. Like that-'), but Wally had ignored him. He should have realised after they had lost their memories and he comforted her by holding her hand, or when he had woken up from the training exercise from Hell and seen that she was alive, she wasn't dead, but he still ignored the signs.

When the computer announced '_Artemis: B05_', Wally snapped his head in the direction of the zeta tubes, to see Artemis standing in the one linked to Gotham City, standing awkwardly. She seemed to be nervous, which was a strange sight that only seemed to be happening since New Year's Eve. When she spotted him, she froze. He did the same, and they just looked at each other for a moment, and Wally noticed a blush creeping up her cheeks. She cleared her throat awkwardly, before tentatively making her way over to him and taking a seat beside the speedster, who had followed her with his eyes.

"Uh, Wally, I've..." She cleared her throat again. Wally's expression was soft and understanding, but also hopeful, and suddenly the realisation that he had come to the same conclusion hit her like a ton of bricks. She felt that the speech she had prepared wasn't needed any more, but she carried on nonetheless. She had spent ages thinking of what she was going to say and she was damn well going to say it. "I've been doing a lot of thinking, and...and, I want to tell you something." She watched his face turn slightly confused, and carried on. "You...when I first joined, you hated me, and please don't try to deny it, I know you did. I hated you too, for a bit, but that's not what I want to tell you, since you probably already knew that...

"When I was young, life was hard. My future had been planned out and shown to me, and it was a future I didn't want. I was finding it really hard to cope, with my Mother in jail and especially after Jade ran away... I didn't want to hurt people, but I was being told to. I had no choice." She saw sympathy in his eyes, and made herself look away.

"But... but then I turned on the TV one day, and it was on a news channel. I was thirteen at the time. A.. a cat was stuck up a tree. I wasn't very interested at first, and was lost in my own thoughts, but then... but then there was flash of red and yellow on the screen." Wally's eyes widened, but Artemis didn't notice. She had a small smile on her face, lost in the memory. "There stood a boy with fiery red hair, bright green eyes and a red and yellow costume. And... the things he said... started to get to me. He told me to do what's right, despite what consequences it may have and... and he taught me..." Her voice broke, and she looked at the floor. She wasn't finding this very easy. All these walls she had built around herself, she had to slowly take them down, one by one. "He taught me to not be afraid. I didn't listen at first, but then I started to collect... newspaper clippings." A blush was creeping up her cheeks. She couldn't believe that she was telling him this. '_I must be insane, he's just going to laugh at me,_' She thought.

"They... were of you. I looked back at them after my first day on the team. They were full of... full of some inspirational stuff. You were just so _brave_. You would always do the right thing, no matter what it would get you into. And I came across one where... you said that everyone deserved a chance. I thought of how you hated me... and how I was 'Red Arrow's replacement' and I thought... I thought that was all I'd ever be in your eyes. And it made me angry. Because you went back on what you said. You had said that everyone deserved a chance, but I don't?

"So, I threw them away. All those years of sneaking my Dad's newspapers and collecting and all those years of _hope_, down the drain. Because I thought that you were an egotistical, flirtatious jerk." Wally frowned slightly, suddenly hating himself. He had been oblivious to how much he had meant to her. "And every time I saw you flirting with M'gann... I don't know. I didn't like it. But, you know, I tried to ignore it. That... didn't turn out too well. I ended up getting really mad at you, and it just... kept getting worse from there.

"You probably think I'm an idiot, but-" Artemis was interrupted when Wally grabbed her and pulled her into one of the tightest embraces she'd ever received, even more bone crushing than M'gann's infamous hugs. She let out a small gasp of surprise.

"Oh my God, Artemis, I am so sorry," Wally apologized into her shoulder, voice sounding muffled, but she still heard the regret in it. "I am such an idiot." She closed her eyes and returned the hug, resting her head on his shoulder. She felt a tear fall from her eye, but she didn't really care at that moment in time. All that mattered was that she had told him, and Wally was hugging her, and that he was _sorry_. That's all she could ask for.

"No...no, you're not an idiot," She croaked out, her voice quiet, but he still heard it, and it made him hold her even tighter. He couldn't believe what she had told him. He had been putting her through Hell, all these months, and she hadn't said a word, carrying that weight around with her wherever she went. "You don't need to apologize...it's fine." She smiled and let out a small sigh. "I'm just so glad I told you."

"I do need to apologize. I'll never stop being sorry for what I did, even if I didn't know I was doing it." He insisted, his voice firm. Artemis pulled away from him, and Wally was disappointed for a moment, but let her. At the last minute, she grabbed his hand, and he looked her in the eye. He could see that tears were threatening to fall, and in her eyes he could see such relief, such happiness and thankfulness that it made him want to hug her again.

"Thank you, Wally. Really...thank you so much."

_'And even the stars, they burn,_

_Some even fall to the earth,_

_We've got a lot to learn,_

_But God knows we're worth it.'_


End file.
